My Genealogy Hound

ALBERT OSCAR LAUFMAN, druggist, Wilkinsburg, was born near Chambersburg, Pa., December 27, 1833. His grandfather, Philip Laufman, resided in Cumberland county, where David, father of Albert Oscar, was born. He (David) married Susan Harrington, of Chambersburg, Pa., and died in Franklin county, Pa., in 1834; he filled the office of sheriff and other public positions; he had four sons, and one daughter who died in infancy. Philip Harrington, the eldest, came to Pittsburgh in 1840; William resides at Apollo, and David near St. Paul, Minn.; Albert O., the youngest, came to Pittsburgh when thirteen years old, and took employment in his brother’s hardware-store. Mr. Laufman crossed the plains with Gen. Floyd’s army in 1858, when that army was sent out to fight the Mormons; from there he made his way westward to California. He was a reporter on the San Joaquin Republican, and in 1860 joined a surveying party occupied in locating the eastern boundary of the state. Following year he returned to Pittsburgh, and enlisted in Company A, 63d P. V. L, serving nearly two years with the Army of the Potomac; he was discharged on account of injured eyesight, being at time of his discharge first lieutenant in command of his company. Returning to Pittsburgh, he here engaged in the drug business, and later at McKeesport. In 1883 he built three stores in Wilkinsburg, which were burned down three years later, but he at once rebuilt. Mr. Laufman is identified with the M. E. Church, is a Free mason, a member of the G. A. R. and R. A., and in politics is a republican. In 1865 he married Julia Forsyth, widow of James T. Brown, a sister-in-law of Gov. Porter, of Indianapolis, Ind., and daughter of William and Margaret (Foster) Forsyth, of Pittsburgh, Pa. Three children have blessed this union: Susan H., wife of C. H. Hamilton; Margaret Adelaide and Albert Walker Laufman.